Does it get any better than a 138-118 victory, folks? It’s a new franchise record for most points scored in a season opener, and they did it on the road against a Hawks team that could be considered the Raptors' most formidable Eastern Conference foe. You absolutely love to see it. Toronto delivered an absolutely dominant performance to start the 2025-26 season, but if anyone is smiling ear-to-ear after the night they had, it’s got to be RJ Barrett.
RJ Barrett shines in Raptors' season opener vs. Hawks
Following the 2025 trade deadline and well into the offseason, RJ Barrett's future in Toronto became a major talking point. With a contract extension on the horizon and questions about how well the "Maple Mamba" could thrive within the Raptors' revamped roster, many believed he would be re-routed elsewhere. The prevailing expectation was not a matter of if he would be traded, but rather when. Yet here we are in October, with a new season now underway, and Barrett remains with his home franchise despite all the trade buzz and uncertainty.
His work against Atlanta should serve as a clear sign to skeptics — whether it's Raptors management, fans, or the broader basketball community — that he can still make a significant impact and is an important part of Toronto's future. Barrett logged nearly 30 minutes of on-court run, where he recorded these impressive stats against the Hawks: 25 points on 9-for-12 field goal shooting, 50% from three (going 2-for-4), perfect from the free-throw line (5-for-5), eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
What’s truly impressive also is that Atlanta had their reigning Most Improved Player and defensive ace Dyson Daniels guarding RJ Barrett, yet he still couldn’t contain or shut down the Canadian star as he normally would. Instead, he was hampered by quick foul trouble, making Daniels' and ultimately the Hawks' night extremely frustrating.
I already caught on from watching Barrett in preseason play that he did not seem shunned or unsure of his place within the Raptors' structure. If anyone thought he couldn’t mesh well alongside new arrival Brandon Ingram, the pairing already showed in the preseason sample size that it’s a duo that can operate effectively (though the overall spacing can still get a bit weird, as it looked against Boston on October 15), and this season opener was yet another prime example of how, while seemingly having too many mouths to feed, Toronto somehow made it work.
Mind you, it's just the first game of the season, so we can't say for sure that Barrett is a definitive keeper in Toronto's eyes, especially with a long road ahead and the basketball landscape capable of shifting unexpectedly. But as I've emphasized for months now, Barrett doesn't need to be traded (at least in the interim); it's better to see how far this core can go before making such a drastic move. And regardless of what outcome lies ahead, it largely seems like the "Maple Mamba" will continue to go about his work relatively unfazed and ready at all times to make an impact.